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AAS Curriculum

Multidisciplinary in scope, African American Studies offers a selection of courses in English, history, geography, political science, sociology, philosophy, religion, and language. By completing 21 hours of course work students can earn a minor in African American Studies. A minor in African American Studies offers a cultural, historical, and literary base that can strengthen any major in the Humanities or the Social Sciences.

African American Studies list three required courses: AAS 200, AAS 400 and AAS 401. Each course offers an "Afrocentric" interpretation of black life in America that reveals the complex realities of race, class, and gender issues.

  • AAS 200: Introduction to African American Studies. An interdisciplinary course which establishes the intellectual context for an examination of the African American experience; it also introduces students to the various approaches scholars use to analyze that experience. This course employs a topical framework which permits focus on issues reflecting the diversity and richness of the African American experience across geographic boundaries.

  • AAS 400: Special Topics in African American Studies. Detailed investigation of a particular topic in African American Studies, with emphasis both on content and existing research. Topics will vary from semester to semester and are announced the preceding semester. May be repeated to a maximum of six credits when identified by a different subtitle. Prereq: twelve hours of African American studies minor courses, including AAS 200.

  • AAS 401: Independent Readings and Research. For African American Studies minors. The student pursues a course of reading and research under the guidance of a staff member, completes a major research project, and takes an examination. A written contract defining the area of study is negotiated between student and instructor at the beginning of the course. May be repeated to a maximum of six credits. Prereq: African American Studies minor, 12 hours of AAS minor courses including AAS 200.

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
(21 credit required)

At least six hours (6) of course work in the humanities:
 
  • AAS 420: (African American Relgious Experience)
    This course explores and examines how African Americans shaped and fashioned their religion to meet their own peculiar need as they responded to historical occurrences.

  • AAS/ENG 264: (Major Black Writers)
    A cross-cultural and historical approach to written and oral works by major Black authors of Africa, the Caribbean and the United States. The course includes writers such as Chinua Achebe (Africa, Wilson Harris (Caribbean), and Toni Morrison (USA).

  • AAS/ENG 356: (Studies in Black American Literature)
    An analytical-historical approach to the development of black American Literature from Douglass and DuBois to Ellison, Baldwin, and Cleaver.

  • AAS/ENG 490G Topics in Gender: (if appropriate)
    Variable in conten and context, this course focuses on any of several aspects of gender in literary studies, such as gender and genre, gender issues in a particular literary period, black women writers, feminist literary theory. May be repeated under different subtitles to a maximum of six hours.

  • AAS/FR 263: (African and Caribbean Literature and Culture of French Expression in Translation)
    This course treats major cultural questions concerning the exchange between Africa and the Caribbean in terms of historical, sociological, political, and literary events. No knowledge of French is required.

  • AAS/HIS 254: (History of Sub-Saharan Africa)
    A survey of the social institutions, value systems and political organization of Sub-Saharan Africa since the 16th century but with particular emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.

  • AAS/HIS 260: (Afro-American History to 1865)
    A study of the Black experience in America through the Civil War. An examination of the African heritage, slavery, and the grwoth of Black institutions.

  • AAS/HIS 261: (Afro-American History, 1865-Present)
    This course traces the Black experience from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. The rise of segregation and the ghetto aspects of race relations are examined.

  • AAS/HIS 585: (The Age of Jim Crow, 1880-1930)
    This course focuseds on the causes, progression, completion and perfection of the color caste systme popularly known as Jim Crow during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The course will examine the national and Southern miliieu in which Jim Crow was born and justified as well as the impact of the system on the black community according to class and socio-economic status. (Prereq: HIS 260 and HIS 261 or consent of instructor.)

  • AAS/HIS 586: (The Images of Blacks in American Society)
    This lecture course focuses on the images, stereotypes, and caricatures of African Americans in American society from the era of the American Revolution to the late 20th century. We will examine not only white-produced images as well. We will also examine the impact of these images within the black community. (Prereq: HIS 260 and HIS 261 or consent of instructor.)

  • AAS/MUS 300: (History of Jazz)
    A listening survey course covering the chronological evolution of jazz from its West African and European roots, through its germination in America, to the present. Emphasis will be on the various styles and functions of jazz, particularly as they have been affected by changing social-cultural patterns during the twentieth century.

  • ENG 363: Special Topics in Literature: (if appropriate)

  • ENG 390: Undergraduate Seminar: (if appropriate)

  • ENG 570: Selected Topics: (if appropriate)

 

At least six hours (6) of course work in the social sciences:
 
  • AAS/ANT 431G: (Cultures and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa)
    A survey of indigenous societies and cultures of Africa south of the Sahara, with special attention to their adaptation of colonialism and post-colonial national development. (Prereq: ANT 220 or consent of instructor.)

  • AAS/EDC 550: (Education in a culturally diverse society)
    A critical study of the concept of disadvantagement, relevant teaching practices, institutional programs, and curricula.

  • AAS/GEO 328: (Geography of the Middle East and North Africa)
    A comprehensive regional overview, emphasizing cultural adaptation to desert environments. The interrelationships amon religions, cultures, and the physical enviroment will be examined, alon with the regions's position and influence in the global system. (prereq: GEO 152, GEO 160, GEO 172, or consent of instructor.)

  • GEO 336: (Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa)
    This course focuses on the cultural and environmental geographies of the subcontinent, rural landscpaes and cultrues and environmental problems, the historical geography of precolonial and colonial Africa, and the social geography of contemporary economic development. (Prereq: GEO 130, and 152, 160, or 172.)

  • AAS/PS 417G: (Survey of Sub-Saharan Politics)
    A survey of sub-Saharan government and politics intended to give the studetn broad knowledge about the setting of African politics, precolonial African political systems, the political legacies of major European colonial powers, and problems of political development.

  • AAS/SOC 432: (Race and Ethnic Relations)
    Analysis of relationships between racial and ethnic groups and the behavioral products thereof. Sources adn consequences of prejudice and discrimination. Situation and prospects of minorities. Strategies of change and tension reduction. (Prereq: Six hours of social science or consent of instructor.)

  • FR 504: Topics in French Literature and Culture (if appropriate)
    Intensive study of an author, genre, period or movement of French literature or an aspect of French culture. May be repeated to a maximum of nine credits under a different subtitle.

  • PS 280: Issues in Public Policy (if appropriate)

 


GRADUATE COURSES

  • AAS/ENG 656: (Black American Literature)
    An in-depth study of black American literature, with concentration on major texts by major black writers.

  • AAS/HIS 585: (The Age of Jim Crow)
    This course focuseds on the causes, progression, completion and perfection of the color caste systme popularly known as Jim Crow during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The course will examine the national and Southern miliieu in which Jim Crow was born and justified as well as the impact of the system on the black community according to class and socio-economic status. (Prereq: HIS 260 and HIS 261 or consent of instructor.)

  • AAS/HIS 586: (The Images of Blacks in American Society)
    This lecture course focuses on the images, stereotypes, and caricatures of African Americans in American society from the era of the American Revolution to the late 20th century. We will examine not only white-produced images as well. We will also examine the impact of these images within the black community. (Prereq: HIS 260 and HIS 261 or consent of instructor.)

  • AAS/HIS 587: (African American Civil Rights Movement)
    This course traces the struggle for African American equality in the U.S. since 1930.

  • AAS/HIS 600: (The Intellectual History of African Americans)
    This course traces the intellectual tradition of African Americans before and after 1865. Primary and secondary readings will be used to review the critical thought of African Americans confronting issues of race, class and gender.

  • AAS/HIS 657: (Race Relations in the US Since 1865)
    The seminar focuses on the African American experience in the United States from Reconstruction to the present. Using primary documents and secondary readings, this course will examine the construction of race relations and the individuals, organizations, events, and issues significant to the shaping of the black experience.

  • AAS/EDC 550: (Education in a Culturally Diverse Society)
    A critical study of the concept of disadvantagement, relevant teaching practices, institutional programs, and curricula.

  • AAS/EDP 616: (Multicultural Psychology)
    This course is designed to increase one's sensitivity to and respect for individual differences. Models, frameworks, techniques and experiential exercises are presented to increase one's skill level in working with persons from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. (Prereq: EDP 600 or equivalent of the instructor.)

  • ENG 490G: Topics in Gender: (if appropriate)

  • ENG 570: Selected Topics: (if appropriate)

  • HIS 654: (Readings in Modern African American History)

  • SW 610: (Social Services in Black Communities)

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Contact Information
African American Studies
& Research Program

102 Breckinridge Hall
Lexington, KY 40506-0056


Main Phone: 859-257-8734
Email: KYWWC@hotmail.com
Director
Dr. Gerald Smith

(859) 257-3593

Administrative Assistant
Evangeline Johnson:
(859) 257 - 3593
Fax: (859) 323-1698

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